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It's no secret that of late some developers opt to order a batch of small capacity Switch cartridges and force mandatory downloads on users for games that are large in file size (such as Doom or L.A. Noire), arguably killing the point of physical media. The reason for this is cost as small capacity cartridges cost less than large ones. The good thing about this is that the prices are not too overpriced compared to the prices of those games when they were released on other platforms. The other route would be when developers chose to fit the entire game in a large capacity cartridge without requiring a mandatory download from the eShop. The downside of this is that it results in what is known as "Switch tax", games sold for more to offset the cost of large cartridges. Currently the maximum capacity for Switch cartridges is 32GB.

In any event, games won't become smaller over time and seeing the trend of large PC/PS4/XBone games ported to the Switch, it has to be expected that mandatory downloads for physical media won't go away anytime soon. Especially not since a recent report from The Wall Street Journal suggests that Nintendo has delayed the Roll-Out of 64GB Switch cartridges to 2019 that were originally scheduled for release during the second half of 2018. Apparently Nintendo had some technical issues that impacted the quality of the final media and needs more time to resolve those issues.

The question now for the average joe is whether or not this will impact third-party releases. Developers whose games are larger than 32GB could either wait til 64GB cartridges are available, delaying their releases in the process (although that's very unlikely in my opinion), or ship their games in small capacity cartridges and require a large mandatory download from the eShop. Another question is whether or not developers care at all about 64GB cartridges since they would presumably and significantly cost more than existing ones, making it not worth it for them from a financial standpoint.

What do you think about it? Do you prefer games being shipped in a single cartridge without requiring a large download, no matter the cost, or do you not care if half of the game from a cartridge has to be downloaded as long as the price is reasonable?

I can't see anyone but Nintendo using them, since they're so much more expensive per GB. Supposedly a 32GB card costs 30% more to use than a standard 50GB Blu-ray disc which the PS4/XBoner use, I can imagine this would be something like 50-60% more expensive, which will just result in either more expensive games or nobody using them.

I can't see anyone but Nintendo using them, since they're so much more expensive per GB. Supposedly a 32GB card costs 30% more to use than a standard 50GB Blu-ray disc which the PS4/XBoner use, I can imagine this would be something like 50-60% more expensive, which will just result in either more expensive games or nobody using them.

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Yeah.. Nintendo of JAPAN never learned anything from Sony. A standard 50GB Blu-ray disc is much cheaper! Oh boy. I am getting tired of Nintendo every minutes and now this! Sighing.

No one will [censored] care about 3rd party multi-platform games, especially about games which are available on PC, especially about Doom and L.A. Noire.
No one prevents developers from searching for ways to make single-platform games (and it's Nintendo only AFAIR) which use multiple cartridges (or installation from multiple cartridges, or what ever).
If any from those imbeciles will release game which is unplayable right from the cartridge and requiring a mandatory download from anywhere - they at least will not get my X$.
I do not buying [censored] digitals, only carts.

This isn't all bad news. By then 64GB flash chips will be much cheaper, so there's a higher chance that devs will actually use them.
The whole "Switch tax" thing I was led to believe was a thing seems to be a lie, as Gamestop are the only ones here charging a premium for Switch games. But maybe it's different in other regions where games are cheaper to begin with.

oh Nintendo always using proprietary stuff... i mean 2019 is far away i will be a junior in HS so we should just wait and see how all this works out

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Proprietary has nothing to do with it, in this case. It's simply the fact that cartridge-based flash memory, at this particular physical size, costs more to manufacture per item than a Blu-ray Disc does. They could be using bog standard SD cards and they'd still cost more per item than a Blu-ray disc does.

Nintendo should know full well that gimping storage is a mistake, they did the same for the N64 and GC and things didn't worked too well.
But as always Nintendo only cares about themselves, 32GB is enough for their games (for now at least) so they don't mind delaying larger carts.

This isn't all bad news. By then 64GB flash chips will be much cheaper, so there's a higher chance that devs will actually use them.
The whole "Switch tax" thing I was led to believe was a thing seems to be a lie, as Gamestop are the only ones here charging a premium for Switch games. But maybe it's different in other regions where games are cheaper to begin with.

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Here in Scotland Switch games are mega expensive. Brand new Xbox1 and PS4 games cost 40 Pounds and Brand new Switch games are 65 to 70 pounds. Second hand switch games are still more expensive than new games on the other two consoles.

Here in Scotland Switch games are mega expensive. Brand new Xbox1 and PS4 games cost 40 Pounds and Brand new Switch games are 65 to 70 pounds. Second hand switch games are still more expensive than new games on the other two consoles.

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lol, here in canada, ps4/xbo are often more expansive
Switch games are like 80, and there are some ps4/xbo games that the price goes over 100$
BTW, those games over 100$ are often deluxe edition or supermegagigaterahyperdeluxe edition

Here in Scotland Switch games are mega expensive. Brand new Xbox1 and PS4 games cost 40 Pounds and Brand new Switch games are 65 to 70 pounds. Second hand switch games are still more expensive than new games on the other two consoles.

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what brand new switch games cost 65-70 ponds? i call that BS heck look at amazon uk and such not even they put brand new witch game over 60, heck the most i saw was like 55 or so.

here in portugal and i see the same pricing in spain, germany and france.

Considering BotW takes up roughly 14GB, this is not a big deal at all. Xenoverse 2 takes up about 9GB, Skyrim 14GB. Seems they are still a ways off from utilizing 64GB anyway.

Edit: A quick search shows DragonQuest Heroes I and II takes up 32GB. Short of that though, is there really a need?

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well if any 3rd party wants to port there big ass games like im guessing assasins creed origins, or some COD, basicaly any game that they just want to use alot of stuff it does matter, still the only 2 games requiring 32gb cards for full install instead of requiring only the cart la noir,nba game both of them would fit on a 32gb cart but they used 16gb ones instead to save money and doom to a small extent since multiplayer needs a download but they putted all the singleplayer on the cart and they filled it good sure they could have used a 32gb one to have multiplayer on the cart too but heck if your gonna do online multiplayer you are already connected online for the match so it was a decent compromise since i dont even play online i dont really care.